First Book Press Releases

Press Release

One Million New Books Now Available to Schools and Programs Affected by Hurricane Sandy, Thanks to First Book and Random House

WASHINGTON, April 15 – First Book, a nonprofit social enterprise that provides new books to kids in need, is continuing efforts to help local schools, community programs and families in the states affected by Hurricane Sandy.

First Book has over 1.1 million new books reserved for Title I schools and other programs serving children in need in these hurricane-affected states thanks to support from publishers Random House, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and others, as well as the American Federation of Teachers and the United Federation of Teachers.

The books are available to schools and programs in the 13 states designated by FEMA as being affected by Hurricane Sandy: Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, DC.

"The publishing industry's response to this initiative has been incredible,” said Kyle Zimmer, president and CEO of First Book. “I am particularly awed by Random House's contribution of one million books; awed, but not surprised. This vision and commitment is exactly representative of the way Random House and other publishers always respond to our country's children."

“We have the resources to rebuild tens of thousands of home and classroom libraries, thanks to Random House and our other generous partners,” said Zimmer. “We just need to get the word out.”

If your classroom or community program was affected by the storm, or you know someone whose program was affected, sign up with First Book today to get new, high-quality books for free or near-free.

Recognizing the wide-ranging impacts of this storm on numerous aspects of children’s lives, schools and programs do not have to have been physically damaged by the storm to apply for books. Any school or program that was affected by the storm or serves children in need in these 13 states is encouraged to apply.

“Thank you so much for supporting our program in a time of need,” wrote Claudia Aristy, director of the Reach Out and Read program at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City. “Our entire inventory of new books was destroyed due to the flooding we had at Bellevue during Hurricane Sandy. You came to our rescue and helped us replace some of the thousands of books we lost. Thank you for all the amazing work you do and for helping us make books part of our children’s lives!”